| Summary: | Desk study undertaken on the site of a proposed housing development at 11 Ford Street. The works were carried out with particular reference to ground conditions and past mining activity and possible ground contamination.
The site slopes southeastwards towards a minor stream valley. The stream is now culverted; its exact course is unknown but the culvert may underlie the south-east end of the site. There is an old well about 40m south-west of the site.
There are no recorded mine workings below the site, although it is located on land previously ascribed to Wheal Pixon. This was a small mine that started up in 1833 following the discovery of a rich vein of copper ore during the digging of a coal cellar at the Tavistock Gasworks. The lease plan indicates that the vein passes beneath the south-eastern end of the site and it is possible, therefore, that shallow, unrecorded mine workings may lie below part of the site. There are no abandonment plans to show the extent of mining activities when it closed.
The site was formerly part of the Tavistock Gasworks, between 1831 and 1905. It was redeveloped for residential use in the 1920s following the closure of the gasworks. The managers office was also converted to a residential house.
Both the former gasworks and mining activity are identified as a potentially contaminative historic industrial land uses. No obvious recent contamination was observed during a visual site inspection in May 2007. |
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